Megara watched him from across the room, careful not to let him spot her. But she just knew he was interested; every so often his eyes, a beautiful shade of grey, would flick over in her direction. He was so good-looking, she reflected.

Dark hair that he’d finally had trimmed to a decent length flopped over his forehead. And again those grey eyes, nearly pure silver in colour…She wondered, briefly, foolishly, what their children would look like.

Irritably she shook her head. No use dreaming about him. Right now he was draped over a pretty third year girl, his arm resting casually on her shoulders. The girl giggled like a dolt as his handsome face moved close to hers. No—not like a dolt, worse than one: a stupid little ninny. He liked his girls a bit younger. And she’d be damned if he didn’t get all of them.

Her friends gathered round her, noticing her gaze.

“Her name is Ella,” Eden Crouch, nicknamed Edie, informed Megara smugly, shooting a dangerous look in the offending girl’s direction. “Ella Rycroft. She’s a Muggle-born. I wonder if his darling mummy knows?” She took out a tube of lipstick and applied it to her full lips. Megara read the bottom of the tube: Bloody Rose.

Fourteen-year-old Faye Black, a pretty redhead with classic features, shrugged. “It doesn’t matter whether she knows or not, Sirius is disowned. He can do whatever he pleases.”

Sirius finally untangled himself from Ella Rycroft and crossed the room towards the girls. “Hey, Fabala,” he said, grinning at Faye.

“Another conquest gone sour?” said Faye crisply, but her eyes were sparkling.

“On the contrary,” said Sirius, raising his eyebrows. “How’s everyone?”

“Disgusted at your flirting,” announced Edie.

Sirius frowned. “Why?”

“Hanging on a girl who is a good three years younger than you are,” said Edie bossily. “Really, Black. How low can you get?”

“Too shy for my taste,” answered Sirius with a shrug. “Personally I don’t find her all that attractive.”

He was lying; James knew Sirius well enough to tell. “Come off it, Padfoot! She’s got a mouth you could just sink into, and if you look close enough underneath those clothes…”

Sirius cuffed James across the ear. “Shut it!” he snapped.

James roared with laughter, holding the side of his head: Sirius had quite an arm. “She has grown up considerably,” he noted carelessly. “All that skin—what little she shows of it anyway—the eyes, the hair…she’s even hotter than Evans,” he added, looking slightly guilty. “I can’t believe you’ve not really looked at her yet.”

Sirius grunted, but his thoughts had taken a far more interesting turn, as teenage boys’ thoughts were wont to do. He could already imagine what, precisely, was under the loose clothing.

* * *
THE NEXT DAY~

“We’ve our O.W.L.s today, you know,” said Lily to Megara as they finished breakfast. “I have no idea why we must take them. They’re horrible!” She slipped a piece of melon into her mouth. “Faye, you’re so lucky you don’t have to till next year.”

“I prefer blokes a bit taller, thanks,” said Lily, mock-arrogantly; Gideon was about five-foot-seven. “Apparently the plant food he’s eating has not taken effect yet.”

The girls all burst into laughter, causing Gideon to look over.

“Oh now see what you’ve done!” Edie hissed, but said loudly, “All right there, Mr Prewett? You’re looking a bit befuddled.”

He grinned. “Naturally. The females are one species of plant I will never understand. As dangerous and sly as the Venomous Tentacula, they are. Perhaps some of my, er, ‘plant food’ would help my mental stature?” He held up a forkful of greens.

His friends let out an “ooooh” and Lily turned brilliantly red.

Fabian, Gideon’s nearly twin brother, raised his eyebrows and chuckled. Despite being ten months younger than Gideon, he had hit his growth spurt, and was a bit over six feet. Megara saw, for the briefest second, his eyes meet Faye’s; then he glanced down at his books.

She wasn’t the only one to have noticed; Lily nudged Faye and whispered, “I think he was staring at you.”

Faye let out a snort. “Don’t be absurd.”

“And we meet again!” said Sirius, swooping upon the Six with a beaming smile. “Ready for testing?”

“Hello,” said Sirius. “Don’t worry. I won’t bite. I don’t see you up close much. You’re always hiding behind your hair.” Idly he brushed the locks behind her ear, very much aware of how she had tensed up. “There. Far prettier with it out of the way.”

She gave him a quick, quiet smile that somehow shot straight to his—as cliché as it was—heart.

“Stop flirting with her,” said Faye in a bored tone. “Meg won’t be taken in by your lines.”

“Lines, are they?” he said, shooting her a dangerous glare.

She bit back the laugh, deliberately needling him. She knew full well when Sirius was interested in more than a five-minute romance. It was just quite amusing to see how far he could be pushed.

“Certainly they’re lines.” They weren’t; Faye could see that plainly. When he was spouting a line, he wasn’t quite so sweet as he had just been, with Meg. Normally he was much more…inappropriate. Not so honest.

Her eyes darkened, a few shades lighter than their soft violet colour; then she carefully picked up her water goblet and dumped it over Sirius’s head.

“My name,” said Megara in richly cold, ringing tones, “is Megara. No need for the ‘that’ or the ‘girl.’”

* * *
A/N: A boy I used to like—and whom I thought liked me back—had the rather stinging habit of calling me “that Hannah girl”. The scene above was just one scenario I imagined in my head, if he called me that to my face; how can a boy you dream about nightly show such (as I thought) disrespect by not even really knowing your name?